Cultural Safaris
PEOPLE
AND CULTURE
Kenya
is an enchanting country and few places in the world can
better its varied tourist attractions. The overwhelming
appeal of the wildlife sanctuaries, glorious beaches,
breathtaking scenery in a vast and unspoilt land, an almost
perfect climate, sophisticated accommodation and a hospitable
happy people. With the gifts of nature bestowed in such
profusion, Kenya remains the first choice country to visit
in Africa. There is so much to see and do the difficulty
lies in deciding what to leave out of a Kenyan safari.
After the hard work put in by the incentive award winners,
they can now enjoy a holiday like no other. In the national
parks and reserves they can enjoy watching the wild animals
from close proximity from open top vehicles, and professional
drivers and tour leaders will show them the animals in
their natural settings.
The Maasai
One is wooden and the other made of flesh and blood. However,
sometimes it is difficult to tell the difference. They
both stand on the left leg, the right foot effortlessly
hooked on the crook of the knee of the other. They spot
long ochre-dyed hair and red sheets as the only attire
on the body. A spear in the right hand and a stern face
complete the picture. One of them is a carving of a Maasai
man and the other is a living member of the Maasai community
and, in this case, the difference between the two is obscure
because they are one thing: merchandise for the tourism
industry.
Culture
as a fusion of a people's way of life is not a commodity.
It is an expression of their totality and when taken otherwise,
it is hard to tell between them and wildlife. In this
case, the Maasai has the same camera value with a buffalo
since their lives begin when the camera begins to whine
and ends when it is shut down.
Culture
is much more dynamic than a moment of a camera flash which
is what the exotic image made of the Maasai turns it into.
Culture holds the past and present, a blending that the
post cards of the Maasai kills.
Culture
is dynamic and the Maasai are not exceptional to that
rule. The shuka-clad (a red cloth that the Maasai wrap
around themselves) Maasai man is at home with a Coke as
the urbanised man from Central Province. The eyes of the
tourists must, however, be tinted so that they see a tribe
caught in a time warp. Anything different would kill the
image of the exotic .
The
Maasai and the Big Five are certainly faces of Kenya.
However, to take them to be a composite of Kenya is a
lie that should stop. To take the Maasai and the Big Five
as being the same is to insult a people. It is an insult
that has continued for long but its life must end in the
minds and acts of those who think of tourism as an affair
that deals with people other than commodities.
The
Kikuyu
Numbering
about six and a half million - about 20% of the national
population - the Bantu-speaking Kikuyu of central Kenya
are the country's single largest tribe, as well as one
of the most 'westernized'.
Yet they are also something of a paradox, for in spite
of the wholesale changes that Kikuyu society has undergone
since the British arrived over a century ago, their sense
of cultural identity has remained strong, and the Kikuyu
have also been the most successful at adapting to Kenya's
new economic, social and political realities. The Kikuyu
are known throughout Kenya for working hard, and for managing
money well: they are easily Kenya's wealthiest people,
and own the majority of the nation's businesses.
The
Kamba
The
Bantu-speaking Kamba are numerically Kenya's fourth-largest
people, and live in the largely semi-arid hills of Ukambani
north of the Nairobi-Mombasa road, between Nairobi and
Mount Kenya and eastwards towards the Tsavo East National
Park near the coast. They came originally from the region
of Mount Kilimanjaro in the south, and are known in Kenya
both for their skill at wood carving, and for the way
in which they have successfully eked out an agricultural
living from the marginal lands on which they live.
These
are just but to mention a few. There are many more in
store for you when you visit us.
